LCD720 – 05/06/09

New directions in teaching pronunciation

Pronunciation in the curriculum

Announcement

• Homework assignment– Graded hw on interfaces due today

• Lesson plan / final paper– Due next week (May 13, 6:30pm)– Questions at the end of class

• Course evaluations– http://www.qc.cuny.edu/courseevaluation– See info on Blackboard and my webpage

Issues in implementation

• Techniques

• Curriculum

• Assessment and evaluation

Today

Traditional techniques

• What techniques have we discussed so far?– Using the International Phonetic Alphabet– Listening discrimination– What else?

Other techniques and strategies

• Multisensory teaching

• Authentic materials

• Fluency building

• Techniques from psychology and drama

• Using technology in pronunciation teaching (in two weeks)

Multisensory teaching• Using other modes to represent sounds

– Use of color in Silent Way– Use of hand gestures to visualize intonation contours– What else?– – – – –

Multisensory teaching• Using other modes to represent sounds

– Visual/auditory reinforcement– Tactile reinforcement– Kinesthetic reinforcement

Authentic materials

• Authentic materials– Magazines, cartoons, advertisements– Jokes, anecdotes– Music, clips from TV

• Why use authentic materials?– Can be more interesting; relate to real life– More up-to-date

• How to use these materials– Spelling-sound correspondence: “Shopping for sounds”– Vowels or homophones: jokes

Fluency building

• Fluency vs. accuracy• Goal: Practicing pronunciation to achieve

automaticity using communicative exercises– Speaking about the same topic repeatedly

and/or speaking about a range of topics– Speaking in a challenging and interesting

setting• Discussion wheel (game)• Personal collage

Fluency building

• Characteristics of fluency and dysfluencyDysfluent speech– Long pauses– Many pauses; short fluent runs– Lack of prominence and clear intonation patterns– Hesitations, repetitions, correctionsFluent speech– Quick responses in conversations– Something to say on any topic– Fast speech rate

• Often trade-off with accuracy

Techniques from dramaRole play

– Dialogues– Interviews “in character”

• Your opinion: Are more readily able to pronounce English in a target-like manner when they assume a role? Why?

Shadowing– Repeating speech simultaneously with the speaker– Or mirroring: also repeat the speakers gestures, eye

movements, body posture• What can students learn from shadowing?

Discussion

• What challenges do teachers face when using authentic materials?

• In what ways does fluency building seem like a valid undertaking for pronunciation teachers? What reservations might teachers and students of pronunciation have about fluency exercises? How might these reservations be overcome?

• Curriculum

Variables that influencethe language curriculum

• Learner variables– …

• Setting / language community– …

• School / institutional variables– …

• Target language– …

• Methodology– …

Variables that influencethe language curriculum

• Learner variables– Age, proficiency level, cultural background– Aptitude, learning style– Prior exposure, prior instruction– Knowledge of other languages– Motivation, educational/occupational needs

• Setting / language community– Second/foreign language– Mono/multilingual

Variables that influencethe language curriculum

• School / institutional variables– Teacher: knowledge of phonetics/phonology,

motivation, accent– Curriculum and materials; audiovisual facilities;

availability of tutor; class size

• Target language– “Distance” from first language: segmental,

suprasegmental

• Methodology– E.g. Audiolingualism vs. Communicative Approach

Objectives

• Selecting objectives– You can’t teach everything– What has priority?

• Sequencing objectives– You can’t teach everything at once– What will be taught first? What should/can wait?

• Needs, frequency, teachability• E.g., you can’t teach the plural noun allomorphs /z,

s, əz/, if the students can’t distinguish /s/-/z/

• Presentation of objectives– What teaching techniques will be used?

Reflection

• How do learner variables influence the selection of teaching objectives?

• How would foreign vs. second language setting influence your syllabus design?

Case study

Low-proficiency adult immigrant students with emerging literacy skills– Description of the population, setting, etc.– Objectives– Selection– Arrangement/sequencing– Presentation– Application to other populations

Case study - Description

Low-proficiency adult immigrant students with emerging literacy skills– Linguistically and culturally mixed

• Mostly Spanish and Hmong– Recent arrivals– No L1 literacy; emerging or L2 literacy– Prior instruction limited to ‘listen and repeat’– 25-40 students per class; open entry, open exit– Whole language approach; life skills and basic

linguistic skills– Student-produced and authentic materials

Case study - Objectives

Low-proficiency adult immigrant students with emerging literacy skills– Numbers and letters

• Phone number, address, name– Perception and production of certain vowels and

consonants– Initial and final consonant clusters when reading– Linking and blending when reading– Rising and rising/falling intonation when reading

Case study - Selection

Low-proficiency adult immigrant students with emerging literacy skills– Whole-language approach: no predetermined agenda– Error analysis of students’ output– Focus on intelligibility, rather than accuracy– Focus on literacy:

• Focus on segmentals at word level• Focus on suprasegmentals at phrase and sentence level

Case study - Sequencing

Low-proficiency adult immigrant students with emerging literacy skills– Guided by student errors– Word reading before sentence reading– Segmentals before suprasegmentals

Case study - Presentation

Low-proficiency adult immigrant students with emerging literacy skills– Creating “word bank” of new words in text– Segmentals:

• Articulators (lips, tongue, teeth)• Choral and individual “listen and repeat”• Reading in pairs, teacher circulating

– Suprasegmentals: Linking, blending and intonation– Teacher reads text as model

• Students repeat chorally, phrase by phrase

Case study - Application

Low-proficiency adult immigrant students with emerging literacy skills– Applicable to other literacy courses– If the population is more homogenous, the students’

needs will be more defined• E.g., parents or factory workers

Case study• Form groups of two or three (not more!)• Choose and define a population that you have

taught or expect to teach– Describe the population in terms of age, proficiency,

prior instruction, etc.– Design a pronunciation course. Include info about:

A. ObjectivesB. SelectionC.Arrangement/sequencingD.PresentationE. Application to other populations

• Hand in at end of class. Will be posted on Blackboard.

• Questions about lesson plan / final paper?

Next week

• Read Chapters 11 and 12

• Lesson plan / final paper due– May 13, 6:30pm